


Gold and Glitter And Everything That Shimmers

by seoulsoo



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Magic, Huang Ren Jun & Lee Donghyuck | Haechan Are Best Friends, Jock Wong Yuk Hei | Lucas, M/M, Narration Changes, Sex Magic, Strangers to Lovers, Those tags are extreme but this is actually very lovely, Wax Play, Witch AU, Witch Lee Donghyuck | Haechan, Yukhei is whipped
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-16
Updated: 2021-03-22
Packaged: 2021-03-24 14:07:21
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 11,742
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30073401
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/seoulsoo/pseuds/seoulsoo
Summary: Donghyuck is full of magic, it runs through his veins and out into the air with sweet words and thoughts. Yukhei did not need to hear him cast a spell to know this, would find his smile alone magic in itself. But Donghyuck thinks there is something magical about Yukhei too, in the way his touch causes butterflies to come alive inside him or how his stare awakens a hunger Donghyuck can never quite seem to feed.But with magic comes fear, and with wishes come consequences, a circle that needs balanced. On their own, they stand no chance, but together, together they just might.alternativelyWitch Donghyuck meets basketball star Wong Yukhei, who is more than meets the eye.
Relationships: Lee Donghyuck | Haechan/Wong Yuk Hei | Lucas
Comments: 16
Kudos: 25





	1. Chapter 1

Pulling the three of swords out of the tarot deck is not an ideal situation, even Donghyuck who tends to find the light in most readings will admit to that. Sorrow, pain, heartbreak…a promise of what is to come as it’s drawn third, the future placement. Wong Yukhei sits across from Donghyuck is none the wiser, a gummy tooth smile on his face as Donghyuck analyzes the three cards before him. 

“What’s it say?” Yukhei ask leaning in, following Donghyuck’s eye movements and look sporadically at the cards before him. 

They had met in chemistry class during a group project. Renjun, Donghyuck’s best friend and also mortal enemy, was also in the project and managed to mention Donghyuck’s extra-circular hobby of being a witch. Yukhei, who Donghyuck can imagine still thinks witches use magic wands and flies on brooms, was intrigued. And thus, an easy target for Renjun’s schemes. 

“Ah ah ah. You pay an extra $20 if you want them read.” Renjun says from behind Donghyuck’s shoulder, sitting at Donghyuck’s desk, swiveling in his chair.

Yukhei takes out his wallet and hands him the cash without a second thought. 

“This one,” Donghyuck says pointing to the card that rests in the past position of the read. A man hangs upside down, foot tied to the trunk of a tree,“is the hanged man.”

“Aaaah,” Yukhei lets out, as if he recognizes the words. Donghyuck knows he doesn’t. At least he is attempting to act engaged. 

“He represents a need to let go and to give yourself over to something for spiritual enlightenment. It rests in the past slot though, so it seems perhaps you already have.”

“I’m here, aren’t I?”

“Don’t interrupt him while he works,” Renjun scowls while he counts his money.

“The guides want me to ask you to become more spiritually aware. You’re on the edge but it is now time to look inward even more. In the past, you may have wronged yourself by not acting in fulfillment of your own deeper needs. Your energy needs rebalancing, healed.” 

When Donghyuck looks up, Yukhei is nodding ferociously. 

“This one is the Lover’s card,” he says moving on. Yukhei’s ears are red, a sheepish smile on his face, “it represents the present. Are you in a relationship?” he asks.

Yukhei’s nodding again, staring down at the cards, blush fully on his cheeks now. “Yukhei?” Donghyuck asks again and the older boy snaps out of his trance, looking up at Donghyuck.

“Oh. Sorry. What?”

“Are you in a relationship?”

Yukhei chokes on his spit, a sequence of coughs commencing till his face is red due to lack of oxygen, not embarrassment. Donghyuck just stares at him to finish. 

“No, no I’m not.”

“Hm. Okay. Well, it represents finding harmony in a relationship, sensuality, and unity. It doesn’t have to be romance specifically. Raphael represents Gemini, so think communication and mental activity. Maybe think about those around you and realize the worth of your relationships with them. It seems there is potential there for something more.”

“Maybe it’s about us,” Yukhei says. 

Now, it’s Donghyuck’s turn to cough. “You know…it’s the present…we just met. I’m just analyzing the worth of my relationships around me.”

“Let’s move on,” is all Donghyuck replies. 

“The Three of Swords falls in the future slot.” he pauses, unsure of how to tell Yukhei of the upcoming pain he is to experience. His guides are circulating with activity around him, whispering words that pop into Donghyuck’s mind, lie, lie, lie they say, which Donghyuck feels wrong to do, has never abused his power like so to hide the truth. But Yukhei’s staring him with big eyes and the feeling in his gut and in his third eye tells him whatever it is to come, it will be bad, and perhaps, Donghyuck thinks, it would be best for Yukhei not to know. 

“This represents hope. The card seems dark just to highlight the brightness that shines in on it. See here in the storm clouds? They have to disappear right? Don’t worry much about the future, the card says, it will be bright.”

He throws up when Yukhei leaves, Renjun patting him on his back as he hurls into the trash can under his desk.

“Why did you lie, Hyuckie?” he asks.

“I couldn’t,” he says in between spit his mouth keeps creating too much of that he’s forced to expel, “The guides didn’t want me to tell him.”

He pulls away and wipes his mouth off with his sleeves. Renjun’s eyes are big and worried as they bare down on him. “I think whatever is going to happen to him is not going to be good, Jun.”

Renjun lets out a huff through his nose. “Come on,” he finally says, “let's get you into bed.”

-

The visions would come to Yukhei occasionally while he slept. He was uncertain what he was viewing, believed it to only be just a dream until the voices came, as they always did. Come find us, they whispered, we wait for you. And Yukhei would wake with a fright, no memory of the vision that had come before— a strange occurrence as he remembered all of his dreams for days on end, sometimes months even. But the voices would sound through his head even after, he would wake up and hear their shrill pleads to him with crystal clarity. That is how he knew he just had dreamt a vision— it became the stamp of one, like a signature of a letter. 

The first time the vision came to be true it was simple. A beehive had attacked his brother, stinging him all over, prompting an allergic reaction. Yukhei could feel each sting as it hit his brother on his own arm, feel the stinger plant in his skin, venom leaking into his veins causing his body to go into shock. He couldn’t help but to mimic his brother's cries, falling to the ground with uncontrollable spasms. And yet, Yukhei remained completely untouched. His brother had nearly died due to Yukhei’s own recreation of each sting, they had not treated him as soon as they searched for spots on Yukhei’s body to indicate what trauma he was enduring, questioning if perhaps it was something else that had attacked both of them. It wasn’t. Yukhei would come to when reality had proceeded beyond his vision, ending with his brother being wheeled into an ambulance, and too himself Yukhei would think, I’ve felt this before in a dream. His brother would sleep for three days, their mother never leaving his side. He’d wake up sore, throat swollen and hives still inhibiting his ability to talk, a tube piercing the skin to help him breathe. He would not go outside for the rest of the summer.

Yukhei had known it then, he thinks a part of him had expected this to happen, had foreseen his own revelation, and waited for it. He knew had become his brother at the moment, his gift of visions requiring him to enter into another. From then on, he would know. He came accustomed to the feeling of adapting to someone else’s body, a slight change in height, in smells, in tastebuds, and vision. He’d adopt their pain and hurt, shouldering their burden but with no explanation for his reaction when it came to be too much. 

He had been blessed lately, he had selfishly thought, to have not had any since university started. Voices quiet, not begging for his attention in his mind, the attention he was fearful to give.

That is, until the night at Donghyuck’s. 

Donghyuck, Yukhei had thought, was brighter than the sun. His smile he had seen as it flashed past him to land on Renjun and Yukhei had dreamt of it often since.

He had taken the chemistry class as a required science course to get out of the way so he could fill his item with more important classes related to his literature major. He thought the idea of mixing stuff together and making explosions sounded fun. When he hadn’t expected would be late-night study sessions in the library trying to figure out major organic products of reactions, but being distracted by the two boys a table over fighting over french fries.

He found himself getting to class early, just so he could grab a seat next to Donghyuck, hoping maybe he’d drop something and Yukhei could grab it and hand it to him and they’d fall in love like in the movies.

Unfortunately, on the other hand, it was Renjun who dropped his pencil that rolled over to Yukhei, stopping at his feet. 

Renjun had thanked him for returning it, and, Yukhei, sensing an opportunity, introduced himself.

And one thing led to another, with Renjun telling Yukhei of Donghyuck’s magic— hoping to make some quick cash— and Yukhei taking any chance he could get to spend time with Donghyuck, so now he finds himself sat criss-cross applesauce on a dirty dorm room floor. 

What he wasn’t expecting is to meet a boy with so many thoughts in his head, Yukhei could feel them like a cloud over the room when he entered for his reading. His face a perfect etching of concentration, a permeant look on his face as if he was a sculpture in a museum. Yukhei watched the way his fingers would press idly against his lips, nibbling the skin on the very tip while he thinks. 

Yukhei knew, to some degree, the last card he pulled--the three of swords-- was not a good card to pull. He had been watching Donghyuck for minutes now, each hidden freckle dotted into Yukhei’s memory, each overgrown chin hair observed. So, when Donghyuck moves to scratch his head, gulps when he flips the card over, eyes frantically moving back and forth to the other cards, Yukhei knows he has done something that has caused the other a great deal of distress. 

But, Donghyuck tells him otherwise, voice a bit higher in pitch than before, more of a smile on the corner of his lips that Yukhei knows is being forced by the ways his eyes remain dull, deep. 

Yukhei just smiles back, claps his hands in enthusiasm. He figured there are worst things than being lied to by a witch, although a coolness runs through him once he’s entered the building’s elevator, his reflection looking twisted to the point Yukhei’s not sure if it’s even him. But he pushes those thoughts aside, instead, texting his roommate Mark the big news. He’s finally, officially, met Lee Donghyuck.

But when he fell asleep that night, a smile on his face and butterflies in his stomach, the voices came. But it was different, they sounded desperate like they were warning him to come find them or else. But it wasn’t them that would hurt him, it was something else. When he awoke, eyes fluttering open as his body laid locked in paralysis, a common side-effect of the visions, he knew with great certainty that he had to find the voices soon or he would no longer have to imagine the pain in someone else. It would be his own this time.


	2. Chapter 2

When Donghyuck meets Yukhei again, he meets him twice at the same time, several weeks later when they had become almost nothing but a memory to the other.

The first time, the party had just started. He had come crashing into the room with a push from Renjun and a manic laugh from Jeno as a greeting to the rest of the party. A few heads had turned at the commotion that burst through the door but then more important things turned their attention away. 

Yangyang had invited them all, having shared the same floor as Donghyuck their freshmen year. He was now was their official invite to parties all over campus that they would otherwise have never heard about until the following Monday when the stories got out to the commoners who weren’t there. 

But they were here, now, in the first level of a house with a creaky porch and rainbow string lights that served basically as the only form of furniture in the front room beyond a table pressed against a wall that served as a makeshift elevated dance floor and a futon shoved in the corner. The kitchen counters were full of dirty dishes and vodka mixes. A packet of ice sat melting away in the sink, a few beers spaced through it.

Donghyuck was on his third vodka cranberry when Yukhei bumps into him as he jumps down from the table-dance-floor. His empty spot is immediately taken by another and in the commotion of it all— Yukhei hopping down and another crawling up— Donghyuck somehow gets hit in the back, enough force to catch him off guard and cause him to spill his drink all over the floor, coating his and Renjuns shoes.

“Dude, what the hell?” Jeno says on behalf of them to Yukhei, who stands with big eyes like a deer caught in headlights. Jeno is their resident mother bird due to his strong arms and competitive nature that enables him to threaten off those that gawk at the group and challenge people like Yukhei if they pose a threat.

“I’m so sorry,” Yukhei says, crawling down to the ground and wiping off their shoes with the sleeve of his jacket. 

“Stop, it's fine. Don’t do that,” Donghyuck says, motioning for the boy to stand back up, and Yukhei complies, taking Donghyuck’s hand to pull him up even though Donghyuck’s not sure he’s much help considering how much bigger than man is to him.

“Heyyyy,” Yukhei drawls out, pointing his finger at Donghyuck upon realizing he recognizes him, “You’re Donghyuck. You read me my tarot cards and sit in front of me in chemistry class.” His words slur a bit but there’s confidence in his speech that Donghyuck admires, he himself a bit too drunk to remember the older boy’s name, but how could he forget those striking features? His face is chiseled in the way sculptures of Greek gods are, a sharp chin and big brown eyes complemented by a strong nose and a sweet smile. 

“Creepy,” Donghyuck says back, but he’s smiling as he speaks, “You’re kind of creepy.” Yukhei just laughs at that, completely enamored by each word Donghyuck says, like a puppy and Donghyuck finds himself wanting to make him smile more. “I remember you though. The three of swords guy. What was your name again?”

“Wong Yukhei. I’m Yukhei. Or Lucas if it’s easier,” Ywkhei’s answer flies out of his mouth as if he had been waiting for Donghyuck to ask him. He sticks his hand out for Donghyuck to shake which seems absurd given their surroundings and the fact Rihanna is blaring over speakers. He takes it anyways.

“Who is this, Donghyuck?” Jeno asks, still prepared to fight while the others flight if needed.

“He’s Wong Yukhei, didn’t you hear?” Renjun answers for Donghyuck with a drawl, but he’s already back to dancing, body flowing with the rhythm of the song as he speaks, “He’s in our chemistry class and I stole $20 from him a few weeks ago so he could get his cards read.” His shoes squeak with each move as they squelch the vodka below them.

And that’s how Yukhei joins them, for a bit, dancing and laughing and poking fun at Jeno’s moves alongside them all. And Donghyuck won’t remember much from that night, but he’ll remember how warm and natural it felt to have Yukhei standing there next to him, arms wrapped around his sides as they jumped up and down to the beat of the songs.

But somehow they get separated, all too drunk to really lookout for the other, one thought leading you down one path and away from the night. Donghyuck thinks maybe Yukhei had to go to the bathroom and just never came back, but he’s much too drunk to think beyond that, his drink tasteless in his mouth as he downs another cup. 

-

The second time, the party’s died down and there are only a few bodies left in the house. Renjun’s asleep on Donghyuck’s shoulder, sprawled out on the futon, trying to ignore the smell of liquor and vomit radiating from the room. His arm is numb and his phone is at 3% but he can’t seem to sleep yet.

His phone reads that it's 1 a.m. but it’s already been 1 a.m. once, and Donghyuck was dancing with Yukhei then. Time changes are weird like that, causing you to repeat moments that already happened as if it's a new chance to do something over again or not all.

Yukhei comes through the front door, bringing a howl of wind and cold air with him. He smells like cigarette smoke. 

He doesn’t notice that Donghyuck’s awake yet, as he moves to start cleaning up the confetti and empty glasses from the floor, humming a soft tune.

“What is that?” Donghyuck asks and Yukhei visibly jumps from where he’s crouched down, falling back on his ass.

“Fuck,” he lets out a groan, rubbing his tailbone, “Didn’t know you were awake.”

Donghyuck only giggles at that, the image of this tall boy laying limp on the ground, “Can’t sleep,” he replies.

“Me neither,” Yukhei says, crawling over to the futon and sitting in front of where Donghyuck sits.

They both just sit there for a minute, taking in the other. Donghyuck’s sure he looks a mess, makeup probably melted away with his sweat. Yukhei, on the other hand, looks as beautiful as before, eyeliner a bit smudged and hair a bit messy but it suits him still. Donghyuck’s not sure if Yukhei remembers talking to him tonight, Donghyuck himself only really remembering him because he remembers his eyes and his laugh. Fragments of memories. But Donghyuck’s much too tired and in a comfortable buzz to challenge his thoughts more, to piece together the puzzle. So he sits there, under Yukhei’s gaze

“Do you want to go stargazing?” Yukhei suddenly asks him.

“Now?”

He just shrugs in response, but that’s all the explanation Donghyuck needs, “Okay,” he answers, and leans forward, Yukhei grabbing onto his hands to help pull him up out of Renjun’s grasp. They place a pillow in the crook of his arm to make up for the loss of warmth and then tiptoe outside.

Yukhei’s idea of stargazing requires more manual labor than Donghyuck was expecting. The older boy has to hoist him up onto the garage roof, which he does with little issue, but Donghyuck still has to use his muscles to pull himself up all the way. Yukehi’s less fortunate, having to try to scale the building a bit until he can grab his arms onto the gutter and pull, Donghyuck grabbing his arm to help but probably just being an inconvenience.

Their clothes are wet and dirty as they lay back against the cold scratchy roof, but the stars are easier to see higher up with no trees or power lines cutting in your line of sight. And the sky is cloudless, bright lights shining down on them 

Donghyuck knows coincidences are never just that. For the universe to bring them together on this night, repeating the same hour twice together, means something he’s sure. Usually, Donghyuck would meditate on savings time. Something about the repeat of time leaving extra room for the impossible, a strange limbo for one to find themselves in unpredictable and unstable but magical. 

But tonight he felt compelled to accompany Renjun and Jeno and let loose, and that in itself was a route that he’s sure his guides had planned for him all along, and now, now he’s on the roof with Yukhei, the full moons light cascading upon them.

And it is then Donghyuck realizes Wong Yukhei has entered his life for a reason, and the universe has no plans for him to go away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! Working on updating this fic as quickly as I can and have parts of the story fleshed out to help speed the process up! Still, the next update may be closer to a week as the story starts evolving more :) In my mind, this served more as the first chapter and the chapter before was the prequel so I hope that helps you understand the direction it's taking, but don't worry, more magic and adventure is in store!
> 
> Thank you for reading :)


	3. Chapter 3

Huang Renjun was evil incarnate, Donghyuck often thought to himself, but perhaps no more so than in the current moment. He was cramped inside an overly packed gym, nostrils filling with smells of stale popcorn and human body odor, sweat, and popcorn salt. He tried not to imagine that the man next to him, breathing with an open mouth and armpit stains leaking down to his stomach, was part of the recycling of oxygen that Donghyuck was breathing in. His butt was sore from sitting on the plastic bleachers, even with his back leaned up against the cold brick wall. Every so often, a shrill of a whistle or scream of the scoreboard would wake him from his thoughts, causing him to jump. 

“You should be used to it by now,” Renjun said, covering his microphone and jotting down player numbers and names. He had agreed to fill in for a sick classmate as their school's sports announcer on the university radio. Donghyuck had thought it an awful and boring gig, but Renjun thought it would look good on resumes.

Somehow, Donghyuck had gotten suckered into it as well. 

“You should be nice to me,” Donghyuck said, stealing a skittle out of Renjun’s bag, “I could be doing so much more on my Friday night than watching my school get their asses kicked in a game of basketball.”

“I told you to get your own bag,” Renjun trails off, but doesn’t bat Donghyuck’s hand away, “What else would you be doing anyway? Smudging your dorm?”

“I’ll remember that next time you need ‘clean energy for a test coming up.”

A roar from the crowd interrupts them, the loud claps and cheers stinging Donghyuck’s ears. His eyes search for the cause of the reaction, and his gaze lands on a gold-skinned boy with a toothy smile being embraced by his teammates. Renjun had been calling him Abe Lincoln jokingly anytime he reported any of his other plays, so when the tall boy turns his head to look at the scoreboard that’s position directly behind Donghyuck, his breath hitches.

“Renjun, Abe Lincoln is Wong Yukhei?”

“Yeah, why? Clever nickname right.”

“And he just scored a point?”

“Only one on our team to do so yet.”

Yukhei’s gaze trails down from the scoreboard to where Donghyuck’s sitting, and for a moment, Donghyuck thinks he must recognize him, remember their night under the stars the weekend before, but then a whistle is blown and he’s running back to the court, and Donghyuck tries to quiet his beating heart.

-

“Soooooo,” Yukhei drawls out as he leans across the table to grab a clean cylinder, “I saw you at my game on Friday. Did you guys have fun?” 

Donghyuck moves him out of his way to grab his compound, attempting to pretend he hasn’t noticed Yukhei’s presence, “Did I enjoy being choked to death on the smell of feet and packed into a small gymnasium just to watch you lose? Not really.”

“Right,” Yukhei says, nodding his head. Donghyuck thinks the boy’s become smaller, “Understandable.”

“Donghyuck’s just being dramatic,” Renjun says from the other side of the counter. He’s holding his cylinder just barely over the flame spewing out from the gas faucet. “He had to help me with this radio gig.”

“I didn’t have to help…” Donghyuck says through gritted teeth but Renjun simply ignores it.

“Oh awesome,” Yukhei says, “You guys are doing a show?”

“Not a show,” Donghyuck says moving to pour the acid into his compound “Renjun’s just a kiss ass and told his Professor he’d take it over for him.” He moves to put the new mixture over the flame too, speaking as he does, “Personally, I think his Professor has it out for him.”

Yukhei’s hand moves to grab Donghyuck’s hips, grasping onto his side and pulling him closer. Donghyuck’s natural reaction is to pull away but Yukhei’s grip is tight, holding him close to him. And then Donghyuck hears it. A crash of glass onto the floor. The larger beaker full of acid he had just used had fallen off the table, chemicals hitting the ground and fizzing up with smoke, right where Donghyuck was standing. 

Their Professor yells at them, something about watching what you're doing and then ushering everyone to the back of the room to avoid contamination. Yukhei’s grip is still tight around Donghyuck’s lower back as they do as their told, but a part of him doesn’t mind, heart still beating fast from the adrenaline of escaping a chemical burn. 

When Yukhei lets go, their still standing just as close as when Donghyuck was in his hold. He’s looking down at Donghyuck while Donghyuck looks up at him, a smile fixed on Yukhei’s face as if he can feel each steady beat of Donghyuck’s heart, hear the emptiness of his thoughts, witness the change running through him. “You have to be careful,” he says, leaning in to whisper into Donghyuck’s ear. 

“Gross, what are you guys doing,” Renjun says, looking up from his phone, bored.

Donghyuck fumbles away, an awkward cough as an answer. Yukhei laughing off some excuse that he was scared and needed Donghyuck’s comfort only for Renjun to roll his eyes, attention directing back at his game. It hits him like a lightning bolt then, as Donghyuck watches Yukhei’s face relax, dimples disappearing into sweet honey skin as he stares back at Donghyuck and offers him a shrug— he has a crush on Wong Yukhei.

-

Donghyuck not only looked like the sun, Yukhei realized, but radiated like it too. Getting to know him met getting to know a side that Yukhei imagined Donghyuck kept hidden as it was too precious for just the average person. His humor, his spirit, his smile drew people to him eager for the blessing of his attention. He lit up a room when he entered, leaving a giggling fit in his wake. Yukhei had imagined perhaps Renjun was the one a bit more ridiculous while Donghyuck was serious, but he could not have been more wrong. Renjun seemed to be the one to save Donghyuck from himself, from his mischief (although Renjun would often be the mastermind of the ideas that lead to the need to be saved). He charmed everyone and anyone, whenever he decided to turn it on. Yukhei was no exception, and he fell quick.

“Just because I don’t want my tarot cards read doesn't me I don’t support your witch endeavors,” Renjun whines as he grabs another one of Yukhei’s french fries. They had headed to the diner near their campus to kill time before they had to board a bus and head out of town for a basketball game. Renjun and Donghyuck had special permission to ride with since they had to report on it.

“He doesn’t support me,” Donghyuck sighs dramatically, flailing across the table like Renjun’s words have struck him down, “Three years of friendship and for what? To be left alone in this cruel world”

“I’m still here, Duckie.” Yukhei’s says, tucking Donghyuck’s hair out of his face from where he lays his head on the table.

Donghyuck springs up at that, wrapping his arms around Yukhein’s waist and pulling him into a half-hug. “I knew I could always count on you,” he says in his best aegyo and Renjun just rolls his eyes.

He had been lonely, even though he had a great roomie in the form of Mark Lee and sure his team was nice and supportive, but Yukhei had longed for the relationships he had when he was home, hundreds of miles away in China, where he could speak the language without stuttering or with an accent. He missed Winwin, with his cuteness that he kept hidden, or Kun who was so easy to poke fun of but would be the first person he’d call if something was troubling him. 

He hadn’t felt that comfort of knowing who you’re people were, who was there for you if you needed them, and even if you didn’t, in so long.

But looking at Renjun and Donghyuck giggle and throw french fries at one another, Yukhei thought maybe he could find that again.

“Take a picture it’ll last longer,” Donghyuck says to him from across the booth, directing his next throw of a fry at him.

Yukhei only sometimes regretted his decision to befriend them.

“You know you have ketchup on this card,” Yukhei says, pointing to a now very red five of pentacles.

Donghyuck lets out a groan, “Renjun!” he exclaims, slaps the boy playfully, “watch what you’re doing. I just got these!”

“That was all you! Eat more carefully,” Renjun whines back.

Yukhei just laughs at them, their bickering reminding him of Kun scolding him and Winwin when they did something extra mischievous. 

“You guys remind me of my friends back in China,” he says, too fond of the moment to keep it to himself.

Donghyuck just smiles at him fondly, while Renjun tries to pinch his cheeks, cooing at him.

“Do you miss it?” Donghyuck asks, voice nonchalant but there’s something in his eyes that Yukhei can tell is eager to know. “your home I mean,” he adds, finally swatting Renjun away enough to look fully at Yukhei, awaiting his home.

Yukhei hadn’t thought of if he missed it truthfully. Of course, there were times he craved his mother’s cooking or longed for a late-night walk with his friends to let off steam. But, he also had so much here that missing home would mean he had less regard for it all than he did. Besides, he was already here in the now and he knew missing home would do him no good— an emotion not worth the burden. Looking at Renjun and Donghyuck sitting across from him, a mess of food and tarot cards in front of them, and Yukhei knows the answer.

“No,” he answers, his expression clear and confident as he locks eyes with Donghyuck, not backing away from the eye contact, “No I don’t miss it.”

They both smile at that, Renjun high-fiving him before turning his attention back to inhaling the pieces of fries that are scattered across their table, not wanting them to go waste.

But Donghyuck keeps looking at him, an unreadable expression on his face. He feels a nudge against his foot, once thinking he’s imaging it but then it’s there again, and Yukhei realizes it's Donghyuck’s foot against his. Yukhei doesn’t say anything, mouths a what to Donghyuck, only for him to smile with his full set of teeth, a look Yukhei’s begun to recognize when he’s up to no good. But Yukhei’s up for the challenge, slides his own foot against Donghyuck’s leg, up and down. Donghyuck tries to wrap his leg around Yukhei’s lower calf but Yukhei has more strength, and pulls away, accidentally pulling Donghyuck with him, sliding him down from the booth, causing it to shake. 

“What are you two doing”, Renjun asks suspiciously.

But they both just laugh, full belly sounding that causes the rest of the diner to look at them, but they don’t care.

That night, Yukhei scores the most in the game that anyone on their team has ever scored in the history of the university, shattering records and carrying the team to a narrow win. 

But when their on the bus ride back home, and Donghyuck sits next to him so Renjun can sit next to Na Jaemin, someone he’s been gawking over since their first game, Donghyuck falls asleep with his head rested on Yukhei’s shoulder, and that feels like the real victory.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello!
> 
> Thank you for your support with this fic so far! I apologize this chapter is a bit shorter, I'm still trying to figure out the best way to structure it and although I could've kept going with this, I think it makes sense to end it here and start the next chapter returning to Donghyuck's POV. I didn't want to switch around too much in one chapter. But! Because it is shorter, I'm hoping to update again here soon with a bit longer one :) 
> 
> Thank you!


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OKAY sorry about all the build-up but things are really about to start happening from here on out!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :)

There were days like today where the sun would peek through Donghyuck’s blinds and wake him earlier than usual, a soft gold cascading against his bedroom walls and the air would smell a bit sweeter and his chest would feel a bit warmer. When this happens and Donghyuck is blessed with an abundance of peace, he’d find himself in the woods near his home, toes digging into dirt as he closes his eyes and feels the earth alive around him. A part of him, on these special days, would long to move down deeper into the soil, to plant himself along with the seeds and worms and critters that crawl below the earth. He opted instead to feel it against his skin, absorbing the sun as if it will help him grow.

On days like today, Donghyuck knew he needed a read.

He had been slacking reading his cards lately, too occupied with those around him to pay any mind to his own thoughts, or perhaps, too many thoughts to pay mind to. Which, really, was the best time to do a reading. 

Hello cards, he greeted as he pulled his deck out, sprawling them out across the grass before him. He imagined the whispers of the wind blowing against his ears was the cards way of greeting him back. 

Despite the blowing breeze, his cards would not flutter, steady to their place on the ground which he knew in itself was part of the magic he let flow out of him, they laid safe inside his energy field, anchored within.

Sometimes, he’d not ask the cards anything, simply let them speak to him, tell him what he was hiding from himself, whatever it was that he needed to know. But a flash of big brown eyes and a hearty laugh has kept him awake at night, even sometimes guiding him to a new type of peace in the form of quiet whimpers and messy sheets. 

Yukhei had been spending more time with him and Renjun, partially due to the fact they all traveled around to basketball games now, spending more time in gyms than Donghyuck would prefer. But sometimes Yukhei would look up to where he and Renjun sit and wink, or after a game, Donghyuck would treat him to a milkshake and Yukhei’s smile would grow so big that he’d forgot how bored he was before. He’d join them for their study sessions in the library, more laughs and embarrassing stories being discussed than actual homework. And, he’d sit freely next to them in Chemistry class, tickling Donghyuck’s side, earning them stern looks from their Professor.

The way he had managed to slip into their friend group and into Donghyuck’s thoughts was somewhat startling, as it was done ever so quickly and effortlessly. It was something Donghyuck had not encountered before, the ease in which he had found himself with Yukhei. Even when his heart was hammering in his chest thanks to Yukhei, the same boy could quell it too— a comforting and chaotic nature. 

And Donghyuck knew there was something magical about that. He had known magic well enough to know it flows through you like air, like the blood in your veins, drawing those near who are good for it and away who are not. And Yukhei, it seemed, was an incredibly sweet catch his magic has clung to.

Thus, Donghyuck knew he needed to speak to his cards about Wong Yukhei.

The first card he pulls is the Four of Wands, a promising card that comforts him in his decision to have let Yukhei in, trusting the universe’s intentions. This card is a celebration card, and when it comes to relationships, a promise of a life together enjoyed with the accompany of another. It feels so true, thinking of how much his cheekbones have hurt lately thanks to Yukhei’s presence in his life. And Donghyuck, one who trusts in his cards but is cautious with each reading, allows himself to smile.

The second card he pulls in the present placement is Death, one of Donghyuck’s favorite cards. Often misinterpreted, Death does not necessarily mean the end of ones’ life, but rather symbolic of change— ending a major phase of your life and beginning something new. A complete transformation. Donghyuck knows Yukhei’s presence in his life is a change, but he had not thought it to be radical enough to lead him to draw the Death card. But for it to be placed in the present indicates Donghyuck’s already experiencing it, and he’s not entirely sure what else it could mean. Perhaps Yukhei will impact him more than he can imagine, but to bring renewal? Donghyuck is unsure what this means.

Finally, the last card he pulls to tell him of the future is the Tower. When he flips it over, he feels a tingle run through his finger, like electricity or a small shock. This doesn’t happen to regularly, for his energy to manifest itself into the material world through his sensations. The last time it had happened he had predicted his sister’s pregnancy before she even knew. He was right. 

For this reaction to occur, he knew his guides wanted him to pull the Tower card. And that terrified Donghyuck. The Tower card served as a warning, an omen. The Tower is commonly interpreted as meaning danger, crisis, destruction, and liberation. It is associated with sudden unforeseen change interrupting the harmony of ones’ life. The card paints a picture of flames flowing out the top of a tower’s windows, two people falling out from it, likely meeting their doom against a black backdrop. Destruction is imminent and there is no turning back.

Knowing this combined with him asking the cards about Yukhei, Donghyuck fears for the worst— a tragic ending between the two, likely connected to the deception of some kind and eventual uncovering of the truth. But this future that the card’s predict goes so against what the rest of the reading has started as. Hope and the right path, change that is not good nor bad but necessary, light and love that Donghyuck could feel flowing through him. 

His guides are quiet when he reaches out to them, seeking answers, advice, anything that may tell him to draw again, but there’s nothing but the void. 

He sits there for a while, allowing the sun to soak into his bones and his toes to go cold buried in dirt. He sits there meditating until he’s sure his scalp is burnt and his legs are jello. 

It is then that Donghyuck makes a decision, one that he knows will change the course of his life or deliver him directly to where he is needed to be. 

He calls Yukhei.

-

“Herbs are finicky things that you must be careful with when picking in order try to save the root if you can,” Donghyuck speaks quickly with excitement, already yards in front of Yukhei who is doing his best to keep up, a jumble of flowers and leaves in the palm of his big hands.

“Gotcha. The root,” he says, bending over to dig up a bundle of marjoram, “What exactly is this for again?”

“We are going to brew some tea and potions,” Donghyuck answers, not looking up from his garden, focused on the task at hand.

“Of course we are,” Yukhei sighs but doesn’t slow down.

Donghyuck’s garden is a mess of weeds and prickly leaves that poke into one’s skin. The scent of sweet flowers masked by the strong odor of various herbs and roots that’s magic tasted sour, but healing. He’s needing to a number of things to prepare himself for the future his cards’ are predicting. It’s illogical in the way it is logical, for him to think he can offset the future the guides have in store for him. It was foolish for him to think at all, so much of magic rested in your heart chakra, relying on instinct rather than ego and over-thinking. 

And yet, here he was, picking herbs to make into a tea for protection and insight with the man who his cards believe will cause him pain.

He wondered for a moment how Yukhei must view him. His disheveled hair sticking out in more places than one, his skin dotted with blemishes across his cheeks and forehead. Pores dirty on his nose, under nails coated in dirt from picking at weeds and herbs, his clothes haphazardly thrown on. Such trivial things, things he had thought he never cared about, and yet under Yukhei’s gaze he longed to know, to be seen as is and be accepted. 

Yukhei just smiled at him once he catches Donghyuck’s gaze on him, placing his gatherings into the basket Donghyuck had provided him and stepping closer, a slight sheen of sweat on his forehead. He reaches forward with his fingers to grasp an eyelash that had fallen on Dnoghyuck’s cheek. “Make a wish,” he said, words soft in the moment.

To fight the way of the world like this, to challenge the spiritual realm is something Donghyuck knows he is not equipped to do, and despite all his thinking, he can’t help but feel something in his gut telling him it is what he should be doing. And, if he had any hesitancy, the way Yukhei’s staring at him as he blows the eyelash away into the wind disappears along with it, blowing away until it’s just him and Yukhei, together, standing in a garden of magic.

-

“Do I have to drink it?” Yukhei asks, catching a whiff of the elixir Donghyuck had placed in front of him, trying not to gag from the smell.

“I thought you wanted to help,” Donghyuck teases him. When he had called Yukhei, the boy had clearly still been asleep, voice groggy as he muttered hello. But, when Donghyuck asked if he could come over and help him with a few things, the old boy shouts an enthusiastic yes and is at Donghyuck’s place in less than 10 minutes, even somehow having managed to brush his teeth.

“I thought it would be like with homework or reaching something on the top shelf, not this.”

“Did you just make fun of my height Wong Yukhei?”

This banter between them flew effortlessly, like a feather in the wind. Donghyuck had always had a way with words, but Yukhei was the first person to ever seem astonished by it, as if he was eagerly awaiting whatever quick-witted comment Donghycuk could come up with. He did his very best to not disappoint. 

Yukhei’s big toothy smile is planted on his face, as he wiggles his eyebrows as if challenging Donghyuck— and what if I did? his face asks. 

“I’ll remember that next time you want to sit by me on the bus after one of your games.”

“Noooooo,” Yukhei whines, kneeling down on his knees in front of where Donghyuck sits at the table, “Forgive me.”

Donghyuck just smirks at him. There’s been something occurring between them both lately, seemingly aware that they’re more than just friends, as Donghyuck allows touches and sweet words that he would never do with Renjun come with his relationship with Yukhei. And Yukhei himself is always so much of a puppy when it comes to Donghyuck, even more so than usual. He waits for him outside his classes to walk with him to the next one and extends his hand out to hold. He curls up to Donghyuck’s side on the bus and hums a soft song to help Donghyuck sleep too. He gives Donghyuck the last of the popcorn while watching a movie, and doesn’t complain when Donghyuck clicks play on another teen romance flick even though he’d rather watch some sports movie.

Even now, with Yukhei on his knees begging for forgiveness as if Donghyuck had threatened the lives of his family, not just simply to stop sitting with him, Donghyuck feels butterflies in his stomach as he imagines how much, and what exactly, Yukhei might think of him. 

“If only there was something you could do to get me to forgive you,” Doghyuck says, feigning indifference. 

Yukhei reaches back across the table and grabs his mug, doing a mock cheers then downing the drink in one go. Donghyuck watches as his throat swallows it down, a bit dripping from his lips. He knows how awful it must taste, how it stings your nose when it goes down. But it will put Yukhei to sleep, not deep, but enough to send him to some weird in-between space between awake and dreaming. Donghyuck guides him to stand on his feet, a bit wobbly already as the drink takes effect, and leads him to the couch, laying him down and putting a warm blanket over him. 

“See you soon,” Yukhei says as his eyes flutter shut. 

Donghyuck’s part is much harder. He positions himself to meditate, but instead of clearing his mind and connecting with all forms of himself, he will be trying to connect with Yukhei and his guides. Communicating with another’s spirit and forms is not something Donghyuck is entirely familiar with. It had happened once accidentally when Renjun had gotten high off a brownie Johnny had made. Thinking it was a normal brownie and taking quite a big bite, he came back to the dorm mumbling nonsense about various toys he had as a kid. Donghyuck had called Johnny, explaining that Renjun surely must be dying. Once Johnny assured him that wasn’t the case, he just needed rest, Donghyuck put him to bed and decided to meditate to distract himself, but couldn’t help worrying about Renjun. 

And then he was in Renjun’s spiritual bubble, floating around as his thoughts turned to Chinese and he too could picture the toys Renjun had remembered.

He drew himself out from his meditation out of fear, unaware of what was happening or the powers he was convening with. 

The small group of other witches he had met online that made up his coven had calmed him down a bit, explaining to him what was happening, and what could happen if he had allowed it, had given himself over completely to another. 

And, if Donghyuck could find no answers from his guides about Wong Yukhei, only be told of confusing paths and conflicting messages, then perhaps Yukhei’s guides could be a bit more forthcoming.

He closes his eyes, allows his lungs to fill with air then slowly releases it, each breath he thinks of Yukhei. He prods the air around him, feeling the confines of his own energy as it extends out of him and challenges himself to burst through. He’s holding Yukhei’s hand, the warmth a grounding force and also a rope thrown to him to pull him out of his, and into Yukhei’s field. 

Yukhei’s energy feels more intense than Donghyuck’s, almost heavy like lead while Donghyuck’s is as light as the stem of a flower. It weighs down on him, pushing him through the various forms that Yukhei’s soul exists in until he’s falling into darkness, or is his eyes closing?

Suddenly, he can see again. He’s standing in woods and Yukhei’s a few feet away from him, curled into himself. As Donghyuck gets closer, he notices his nails digging into pale skin— skin that was one so golden drained white, translucent now. His nails are caked with dirt and dried blood that Donghyuck can only imagine what it's from. His pupils are dilated so large that he doesn’t even look like the Yukhei Donghyuck knows, but someone else entirely. 

“I’m so cold, Hyuckie,” Yukhei says, voice trembling out of his chapped lips. “It’s all your fault,” he says, voice growing deeper demonic almost. As Donghyuck leans down, moves to place a hand over the Yukhei’s to help him, Yukhei lunges for his neck.

He opens his eyes to his own room with a gasp, whispers from his own guides circling around him, fast sounds like gushes of winds that Donghyuck can’t make out but nows they’re scared, that Donghyuck’s seen something they hadn’t wanted him to. He can barely breathe, overwhelmed by everything, unable to feel his toes or his body. He grips tight to Yukhei’s hand that still rests in his, he focuses on the slight wetness from both their sweat in his palm, brushes his finger down to his wrist to hear the pulse from Yukhei, and uses it to ground him, matching his breath with each beat.

“Donghyuck?” Yukhei’s voice fills the air, sending his guides silent. “You’re crying,” Yukhei says, moving down onto the floor next to Donghyuck, “What’s wrong? Did it not work?”

“Do you not remember?” Donghyuck asks as he feels himself becoming him again. 

Yukhei doesn’t answer at first, simply pulls Donghyuck into him, supplying a kiss to the top of his forehead. Donghyuck’s engulfed into the smell of Yukhei, sweet like roses and sandalwood. 

“I remember,” he whispers into Donghyuck’s hair, a confession both to himself and the boy he holds, “I’m sorry you had to see that.”

“Why?” Donghyuck says pulling away, his eyebrows pushed together, “It wasn’t your fault. Your guides…they led me there. But why?”

“Sometimes,” Yukhei says very choosing his words very carefully, “I think I have visions,” He had never admitted this to anyone, never even said the words aloud, “They come to me when I sleep and I never remember what they are until they happen. And when they happen, it’s like I become the person that’s being impacted, I turn into them completely. I feel whatever they feel. I think in their thoughts. I don’t know where I go, I just become them.”

“But this…you remembered this so how could it be a vision?”

“The guides…I hear them too. Sometimes. I didn’t know what they were until I met you. But the night after the reading, they had warned me that my gift would turn on me. That I’d have a vision of me. I can’t explain it but…Donghyuck, I know this was it.”

“So you think…you think this is real? You think you’ll…” He remembers how cold Yukhei felt when Donghyuck reached out to touch him. He knew the boy was dying there, even if he wasn’t sure how. there was nothing but hatred for Donghyuck keeping him alive as he laid on that forests’ floor. He can’t find the words to speak this aloud.

“No, no, no,” Yukhei says, cupping Donghyuck’s face in his hands to fully look at him, “Whatever that was, I’m not going to let happen. I can remember it, Donghyuck, which means I can prevent it. I can change it. I’d never hurt you, you know that.”

“But, how can you be so sure? What if…what if I hurt you?” 

“Well…can you at least try not to?” Yukhei says, his words playful as if he’s not talking about his impending death. “You smiled just a bit, I saw it,” Yukhei adds, poking Donghyuck’s side knowing he’s ticklish, causing another smile from the boy who does his best to fight it off.

“It’s really not funny,” he says, swatting Yukhei’s hand away but it’s too late, the older boys attacking both sides now, and Donghyuck’s stomach and his back and under his foot until the boy is wiggling all over under Yukhei’s touch, gasping for air as his body breaks out into laughs, leading to hiccups too but Yukhei’s relentless.

“I’ll stop when you promise me you won’t worry about this. You’ll let it go and not let the universe control us. We decide what happens to us.”

“You know,” hiccup, “That like goes against everything I stand for as a witch,” hiccup.

Donghyuck’s hands are pinned above his head as he lays on the floor, Yukhei holding them in place and is straddling his thighs to keep him from wiggling away. The tickling has stopped but he’s still at Yukhei’s mercy. He’s praying Yukhei hasn’t noticed how hot his cheeks are from a growing blush.

“I guess you better get comfortable than. Going to be laying like this for a while.”

Donghyuck lets out a groan, already feeling his butt go numb from the pressure of Yukhei’s weight on him. He’s also able to feel Yukhei on him as he leans forward a bit to taunt Donghyuck, sitting down flush so each inch of his body weight is on Donghyuck, and thus contributing to some very adult thoughts that just makes Donghyuck blush even more.

Yukhei just smirks as if he knows exactly what he’s doing to the boy. 

“Okay, fine. I won’t let it bother me, that much at least. But you can’t tell me not to look into it? I just. I need to put my mind at ease.”

Yukhei crawls off him, a sigh of relief coming from Donghyuck to not be so constrained anymore, diaphragm fully operational again. 

“Deal,” Yukhei says, holding his hand out for Donghyuck to take. 

And he does, praying he won’t ever have to let it go.


	5. Chapter 5

Life becomes eerily normal after Yukhei’s revelation. He knows it's foolish, to think he can avoid whatever the fates have in store for him, to think just because he remembers this one vision, that he can make it not come true. But he’s foolish like that— foolish for Donghyuck specifically. He remembers the coldness running through his veins as he laid on the forest floor, voices surrounding him that he couldn’t understand but knew were telling him he was dying. And Donghyuck was there too, and he felt fire explode inside him when Donghyuck called out for him. Anger that he had never felt. Hurt. But feeling that held felt so wrong. That much hate inside him could not seem possible— and then for it to be directed at Donghyuck even more wrong when Donghyuck made him feel like summer. Like bees buzzing and sweet flowers blooming.   
To know of what to was come, meant he could change it. Prevent it. Before, his visions disappeared like trying to grab air, slipping away as he left his dreams. But this time, this time he remembered. And he would remember, writing down the exact details in his dream journal, relaying the memory over and over until it became a part of him— able to recite the same way he could breathe air— without thinking, naturally.

He was never one to back away from a challenge, and this was his life. He’d decide how he lived it.

“So,” Mark Lee says, leaning up next to Yukhei’s gym locker, “You’ve been hanging out with Donghyuck, huh?”

“Yeah, why?”

“Just,” Mark shrugs, “He’s kinda weird right?”

“What do you mean?” Yukhei asks, shoving his jersey into the locker and slamming the door with enough force to cause the row of lockers to shake.

“I didn’t mean to be rude,” Mark says, rubbing the back of his neck, acutely aware of the change in Yukhei’s attitude, “You just seem to be a bit out of it lately. You missed a free-throw today, Yukhei. That’s not like you.”

“What’s that got to do with Donghyuck?”

“Nothing! Nothing,” Mark says, “Unless it does. Just. I’m here for you if you need to talk.”

“Thanks, Mark. I’ll remember that.” His words are sarcastic, but Mark doesn’t seem to notice.

“Hey, listen. Johnny’s having a get-together Saturday if you wanted to come. Hell, bring the little witch if you wanted. Might be good for you to let off stress. Feel like we haven’t seen you.”

“We practice together every day. And live together”

“Yeah but really see you, you know? Yukhei who surprisingly gets drunk off two beers and blares Beyoncé. I miss him. My friend, not just my teammate and roomie.” 

He realizes he’s been neglecting his friends. “Yeah…yeah, maybe. I’ll let you know. Thanks, Mark.” he means it this time. 

And the smile Mark gives him makes him feel even worse. 

-

“It sounds like you talk to other guides, that's what the coven thinks at least. You can just do it a lot easier than us,” Donghyuck says as he slides into the booth across from Yukhei at lunch, “Your guides are almost like drawn to others. That’s why you feel like you become then whenever you have a vision. Why this is, I don't know. Sometimes people just have a little bit of magic in them,” he finally takes a breath, “You going to get that?” he asks, pointing to the pizza on Yukhei’s plate. He turns his plate over for Donghyuck to take, immediately devouring it.

“I thought we weren’t going to worry about it?”

“You didn’t expect me to just go on with life as nothing happened, did you?” Donghyuck’s mouth is full as he talks, pizza sauce smeared on the side of his mouth. 

Yukhei reaches across the table with his napkin to wipe it off for him, causing Donghyuck to swallow a bigger bite than he probably should have, letting out a string of coughs as he chokes it down.

They need to talk about this thing in between them.

“I just don’t want it to change anything. I don’t want you to think so much about it that you don’t realize what’s in front of you.”

“Someone feeling lack of attention lately?”

“No,” Yukhei grumbles. “Renjun on the other hand…” Donghyuck throughs his rolled-up straw wrapper at Yukhei then, a smile on his face. 

“It’s just a precaution, you big baby. It’s not as easy as it is for me to just ignore what the guides are telling me.”

“I thought they weren’t telling you anything. That's why we even did that in the first place.”

“Well, yeah, but I can’t ignore what your guides are telling me either.”

“My guides are stupid.” Donghyuck slaps his hand over Yukhei’s mouth

“Don’t say that! It’s bad karma. You’re going to make this happen if you keep acting like this.”

Yukhei groans, licking Donghyuck’s palm so he pulls away in disgust, wiping it off on his shirt. “Plenty of people live life without knowing about this stuff and they seem fine.”

“Yeah well, we aren’t plenty of people. We have these gifts for a reason, Yukhei. I thought you got that.” He seems disappointed as if Yukhei’s turned into a stranger.

“I’m sorry. I do. It’s just frustrating sometimes,” he reaches across to hold Donghyuck’s hand in his, an immediate soothing force. “I was thinking…do you want to go to a party with me?”

“A party,” Donghyuck raises his brow suspiciously, “me?”

“Don’t at like that. It’ll be good for you, for us. To get out and forget everything for a night. Rennin can come too!”

“I don’t know… I mean yeah I’ve been to Yangyang’s but a party with the sports team seems way next level.”

“Oh come on! You’ll fit right in. 

Another raised eyebrow.

“Well maybe you won’t but you’ll be with me, the basketball star!”

“Don’t get too full of yourself,” Donghyuck says, but he’s smiling now and Yukhei knows he's won, “but fine, I’ll go if Renjun agrees and you promise to not leave my side.”

“Deal,” Yukhei says with a wide-tooth smile. He hadn’t planned on leaving his side anyways.

-

In contrast to the parties Donghyuck had occasionally attended with Renjun at his side, Johnny Suh, the captain of the basketball team, throughs parties like they do in the movies— full Project X mode. 

They’re incredibly exclusive despite having a packed house and lawn. Only the prettiest of girls can get in and the frattiest of boys. There’s even a password to get in that you have to tell the “bouncers” (two freshmen in sunglasses whose only way into the party is doing this for most of the night). Even if you have the password, you can still be turned away if you don't “fit” the “look” of the place.

For all those reasons, Donghyuck was feeling incredibly insecure. 

He had spent a good two hours getting ready, hosting a private fashion show for Renjun who groaned as he sat on his phone wearing a sweatshirt and old jeans. 

He didn’t worry about these things like Donghyuck did— simply going with the flow and seeing what happens. Donghyuck was envious of his lifestyle.

He had settled for a tight pair of black torn-up jeans he had buried in his closet that he had to wiggle on, two sizes too small, complimented with a leather jacket that he’ll probably sweat a bunch in but that was the cost of fashion. 

It seemed worth it though when Yukhei’s jaw dropped when he arrives to pick them up, unable to talk for a solid minute. 

Yukhei had kept his promise and not left Donghyuck’s side since arriving. Renjun, on the other hand, had run off to find Jaemin as soon as they got there.

Yukhei’s wearing a cut-off, showing off his muscles and tanned skin. He had one arm wrapped around Donghyuck’s side as they walked, random people, saying hi to Yukhei that Donghyuck had never seen in his life. He’d smile back and then whisper he didn’t know who that was into Donghyuck’s ear. It made him feel warm, special. His insecurity slipping away the same way Yukhei’s hand did until it was resting just on his lower back intimately. 

“You wanna grab a drink?” he says. drawing Donghyuck’s attention away from the touch and back to the world around him.

“Ya. A drink. That would be great.”

Yukhei looks at him with brows furrowed. “Are you okay? Do you wanna leave? Is it too much?”

“No! No, it's fine Yukhei. Really. Just overwhelming. Drinks!” he says, taking Yukhei’s hand and letting him guide him to the makeshift bar.

-

Three drinks in and Donghyuck’s already feeling like he’s on cloud nine. Him and Yukhei had squeezed their way onto the dance floor, joining the crowd of sweaty bodies and horny singles. Every time you moved you’d hit someone else, leaving the only space for Donghyuck to dance is pressed up against Yukhei. They’re facing each other, caught up in the other’s warmth as bodies move against bodies, Yukhei’s hand returning to the bottom of Donghyuck’s back again to keep him close and steady. 

It’s innocent at first, simply dancing and laughing at each other’s lame moves. But then a slower, sexier song comes on and the people next to them start making out and Donghyuck feels like his life has slowed down, forcing him to live this moment.

Yukhei’s staring at him with an unreadable expression, and then he’s twirling Donghyuck around slowly, pressing himself against Donghyuck and placing his hands low on Donghyuck’s hips. Donghyuck just sort of stands there, unsure what to do but not entirely opposed to the change. 

“Is this okay,” Yukhei says into his ear. His voice sends chills down Donghyuck’s neck. He tilts his head a bit, giving Yukhei more access to speak into him.

“Mhm,” Donghyuck says, not confident in himself to make words.

“Put your hands up around my neck,” Yukhei says, kindness in his voice but the order still enough to send a shiver down his spine as he does what he says, wrapping his hands around the older boy and pulling him closer. 

He feels scandalous as they start moving, grinding against each other, molded together. Donghyuck’s jacket is sticky on his skin in ways that should be more uncomfortable but he can feel Yukhei’s breath on his neck, feel his cock twitch in his jeans as it's pressed up against Donghyuck. He’s breathless, hot, fingers scraping at Yukhei to bring him even closer, not enough.

Yukhei’s lips are pressed so close to his skin, lightly touching it when he moves occasionally, each moment sending electricity through Donghyuck’s body until he’s moving his head to press Yukhei’s lips against his skin fully— eliciting a moan from Yukhei at the touch.

He licks the spot, sucks on the skin a bit enough for it likely to leave a mark. Donghyuck’s sure he tastes like sweat but he’s too focused on how good it feels to have Yukhei tasting him, touching him, to be self-conscious. 

“Yukhei,” he moans out, so far to the edge he doesn’t care that there are others around them, doesn’t care if anyone's looking at them. Yukhei is the only one that matters. 

“Me too,” he mouths against the column of Donghyuck’s neck before pulling away, grabbing Donghyuck’s hand from his neck and dragging him out of the crowd— a blur of faces and lights that Donghyuck can’t seem to piece together— pleasure taking over all his sense.

He pulls them into some corner of the party that's quieter than the rest. An abandoned beer pong table sits in the corner but most people just drift in and out, on their way from the kitchen for drinks to the backyard for smokes and back into the dance floor. 

The lights are flickering between neon pink and dark blue, casting a purple shadow over Yukhei that makes him look godly, skin dyed in colors as if a creature from another world. But stunning. So beautiful that Donghyuck feels honored to even be able to look at him, let alone be looked at back. 

He can feel the change coming over him, over them, as Yukhei leans closer, breath entangling together before lips do. The memory of Yukhei dying on the forest floor is a distant thought, buried away far inside Donghyuck. But Yukhei’s lips are right here, waiting to be kissed.

Donghyuck slots their lips together with urgency, clinging onto Yukhei much like how Yukhei did to him the first time they touched, the first time Donghyuck realized Yukhei was there to stay, all those weeks ago in a chemistry lab. He tastes the sweetness of cranberries and sting of vodka on the Yukhei’s tongue when he opens his mouth, Donghyuck following suit and oh, this is what that feels like, Donghyuck thinks. A techno song is playing over the speaker and someone’s bumping up against them to sneak to the kitchen for another drink but Donghyuck doesn't mind, appreciates the stranger for pushing him flush against Yukhei, chasing his lips on his tip-toes. His heart’s beating through his chest. He’s never kissed anyone like this, had messed around with Renjun to learn once but that was years ago and Yukhei’s hands are so big as they sprawl against his back, switching their positions so Donghyuck can rest up against the wall as Yukhei lifts him up and Donghyuck wraps his leg around the bigger boy as he holds him— kisses sweet but needy. Is this what it is to be desired? Donghyuck asks himself, feeling a burning flow from his heart to his stomach to his cock, already half-hard that Yukhei must feel as he moans against Donghyuck’s lips, grinding up to the touch impulsively. Donghyuck feels like tingles-- feels like magic flows with each touch of Yukhei’s lips on his, fingers on his neck as he grasps the boy's head softly to ensure it won’t hit the wall behind him. He thinks this must be the first touches to have ever landed on his skin. 

“Is this okay?” Yukhei asks, pulling away. His eyes are big, pupils dilated as if he’s high off the kiss, off Donghyuck. His question is laced with fear as if afraid Donghyuck will tell him it's not, which is frankly absurd. Donghyuck realizes Yukhei is scared it will end, this will come crashing down. How can he have not known how his touch makes Donghyuck feel, how Donghyuck has agreed to defy the fates— just to spend time with him? Donghyuck’s own eyes are sultry to Yukhei, barely slits open, and it's then Yukhei realizes Donghyuck too is completely lost in him.

The boy just nods, lets out an “mm,” to confirm, and Yukhei’s smiling as he dives back in, a clatter of teeth before he kisses Donghyuck with his all as if it's an offering, urging him to take all that Yukhei is.

Yukhei experimentally drags his teeth on the bottom of Donghyuck’s lip, nipping a little and then sucking on the bottom before his tongue slides against Donghyuck’s— warm and wet. Even when he pulls away to breathe, they don’t part long enough to be without the other, a trail of saliva connecting them before they pullback in.

It’s all too much, really, hot breath and wetness and Yukhei’s hand crawling under Donghyuck’s shirt, playing with his nipple causing Donghyuck to let out a jumble of expletives— slurring his words as Yukhei recaptures his lips. 

Donghyuck’s fully hard now, and by the slight touch of hand he’s been brushing against Yukhei, he’d say he is too. It’s weird for him to be this shy, when at the same time he’s practically rutting at every touch of Yukhei’s. But still, he feels like such a virgin to just allow himself to be kissed, touched, and not sure what to do with his hands. Should he return the favor? He’s so far in his thoughts, so aware of his body just standing there, that when Yukhei pulls away with a look that asks what's going on, Donghyuck knows he's been caught. 

“It’s just…overwhelming,” he says breathing in a gulp of air. Yukhei’s lips are bright red and swollen. Donghyuck instinctively moves to touch his own, curiosity of how his are. The skin feels plump and wet, a bit bitten up under the touch.

“We can stop,” Yukhei says, moving to adjust himself in his pants, “There’ll be more time.”

“I don’t want to stop but…” the music from the other room blares on, he sees people walking back and forth behind Yukhei. Someones peeing in the kitchen sink, another snorting a line of something white off the counter. 

“I get it,” Yukhei says, turning around and falling his eyes to the commotion around them, “Let me take you home.”

-

Wong Yukhei is the perfect gentlemen as he walks Donghyuck back to his place, hand in hand, humming a song and a little skip in his step. He’s foolishly happy, a wide smile and giggles never faltering the entire way back. He makes it impossible for Donghyuck not to mirror it. 

“Thank you,” Yukhei says, not clarifying what exactly for but Donghyuck knows, feels it in his chest too— a warmth spreading throughout his body. 

The world may be out to get them, and Donghyuck has always listened to his guides, but for once he lets himself slip into Yukhei’s smile as he kisses him goodnight, for once, he lets all the world fall away so it’s just the two of them and nothing more. Nothing can hurt them if they’re together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so sorry for the delay in posting. finally some kisses are happening. i hope it doesn't feel too rushed? they're just drawn to each other, which can be fleshed out more later on, i just needed some KISSES.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Follow me on twitter @ M4RKFILM :)
> 
> I'll be updating once a week or sooner!


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